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• prince
  prince

  noun

  a nonreigning male member of a royal family.
• Prince
  Prince

  noun

  Harold S(mith) Hal, 1928–2019, U.S. stage director and producer.

prince

¹ American  

[prins] / prɪns /

noun

princes plural

1. a nonreigning male member of a royal family.

2. History/Historical. a sovereign or monarch; king.

3. (in Great Britain) a son or grandson (if the child of a son) of a king or queen.

4. the English equivalent of any of various titles of nobility in other countries.

5. a holder of such a title.

6. the ruler of a small state, as one actually or nominally subordinate to a suzerain.

   Monaco is ruled by a prince.

7. a person or thing that is chief or preeminent in any class, group, etc..

   a merchant prince.

8. a person possessing admirably fine and genial characteristics.

   He is a prince of a man.

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Prince ² American  

[prins] / prɪns /

noun

1. Harold S(mith) Hal, 1928–2019, U.S. stage director and producer.

2. Prince Rogers Nelson, 1958–2016, U.S. singer, songwriter, and guitarist.

3. a male given name.

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prince ¹ British  

/ prɪns /

noun

1. (in Britain) a son of the sovereign or of one of the sovereign's sons

2. a nonreigning male member of a sovereign family

3. the monarch of a small territory, such as Monaco, usually called a principality, that was at some time subordinate to an emperor or king

4. any sovereign; monarch

5. a nobleman in various countries, such as Italy and Germany

6. an outstanding member of a specified group

   a merchant prince

7. informal a generous and charming man

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Prince ² British  

/ prɪns /

noun

1. full name Prince Rogers Nelson. born 1958, US rock singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist. His albums include Dirty Mind (1981), Purple Rain (1984), Parade (1986), and Sign o' the Times (1987)

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• princeship
  noun
• princeless
  adjective
• princelike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• princes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of prince

1175–1225; Middle English < Old French < Latin prīncip- (stem of prīnceps ) first, principal (adj.), principal person, leader (noun), equivalent to prīn- for prīmus prime + -cep- (combining form of capere to take) + -s nominative singular ending

Explanation

A prince is royalty, the son of a king or queen. Originally, a prince was the ruler of and individual territory, also known as “principalities.” A prince is a popular fairy tale hero, but there are real live ones, too. A prince is the son of a monarch, possibly even the person who stands to inherit the title of king after his father's death. Sometimes, though, a prince is simply a member of the royal family, or even a ruler over a small area of the monarch's country. Prince comes from the Latin princeps, "first man" or "ruler," from primus, "first." A prince is often first in line to inherit the throne.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

prince Prince princes

The prince will follow in his father Prince William's footsteps and go to Eton College, an elite private school where entry usually begins at the age of 13.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

“Princess Mononoke” begins with a worm-covered demon attacking a pastoral village, only to be slain by its prince, Ashitaka.

From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026

“India’s Great Mughals,” which lands in the U.S. exactly 500 years after the empire’s founding by a Central Asian Muslim prince in northern India, focuses on the “golden age” of Mughal art.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026

The prince gave emotional testimony during the proceedings in which several high-profile figures, including singer Elton John and actor Elizabeth Hurley, accused the tabloid publisher of invading their privacy.

From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026

But he was not such a fool as to think that he could simply free the prince from his bonds and not suffer consequences.

From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny

Social media users were also split, with one viewer writing that Meghan was "warm, gracious and a delight to watch" while another called Prince Harry's cameo appearance "cringe".

From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026

Meghan filmed the episode in Melbourne in April, during a four-day tour of Australia with Prince Harry.

From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026

Prince didn’t know much about football, but by the end of Wallace’s junior year, she had won a team award for her work.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026

It was a big win for Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose goal is to diversify the kingdom’s economy beyond oil.

From Slate ● Jul. 25, 2026

Nhamo wailed uncontrollably as the warriors and Prince Kakono sacrificed themselves, but her cries weren’t for them.

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer

Working through more than 6,500 pages in Kolkata's National Library, he followed princes, generals, courtiers, royal women, imperial eunuchs and many others through tens of thousands of entries.

From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026

This changed when “Heated Rivalry” actors Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams broke the formula, starring as two rival fae princes in “Ember & Ice,” Quinn’s most popular series to date.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026

Dad rocker Phil Collins and reformed Britpop princes Oasis led the 2026 class of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees who were announced on live US television on Monday.

From Barron's ● Apr. 14, 2026

Meanwhile, Abdulmejid and his family lived a glitzy Riviera life, attending dances, we are told, with “four or five kings and any number of princes, dukes and counts.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026

The Church supported these cities to increase its temporal power; in many other cities, citizens became princes.

From "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli